It isn't working

Despite what some in the US Senate would have us believe (Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala), the U.S. health care system it not the best in the world, at least by a couple of simple measures: cost per capita and life expectancy. When compared with the other major industrialized countries we have the worst life expectancy:
Yet we have the highest cost, whether measured as a % of GDP:
or measured in cost per person:

In fact our cost per person is more than twice the average cost per person of all the other countries listed (population weighted average cost per person is $2,728).[This data is from a convenient summary published by NPR]

Certainly life expectancy depends on many factors in addition to medical care, such as diet, exercise, bad habits, etc. But clearly the system isn’t working. For what we are paying for health care we ought to be getting not only the best acute care but great preventive care as well.

The care we are getting is too expensive (almost 1/5 of GDP). The cost of health care has been growing at over twice the rate of the overall growth of GDP, a rate that is not sustainable. In fact if it were to continue by 2060 all of the US GDP would be spent on health care leaving nothing for food, housing, cars, or smart phones. Obviously our economy would have collapsed long before. I think that there is every indication that heath care expenses have already grown beyond a sustainable level and is at the core of our current economic malaise, more on that in future posts.

Introduction

Although they will most likely get lost in the in all the current buzz, I would like to add my thoughts to the health care debate. I've had an opportunity over the last several years to become far more familiar with the U.S. health care system than I would have liked, having survived the recent deaths of my wife and mother due to cancer, and struggling to maintain health insurance for my family while running my own small business. Although I've met many dedicated and competent health care professionals and seen some wonderful care, it’s clear that our health care system is seriously broken. Not only is it failing to deliver the kind of care it should, but it has become a serious cancer on our economic system, stunting its growth and eating it alive.

As a health care consumer rather than a health industry insider or a politician, I would hope that I can take a common sense look at the health system. That’s at least what I will attempt in this blog. I will try step by step to go through what I have learned about the problems with our health care system and the steps that I believe we should take to correct it. Thanks for reading and please give me your comments.